History

The internal auditing function of the governments of the Netherlands Antilles has existed for almost 70 years. During several decades the internal auditing function for the entire Netherlands Antilles was carried out by the government accountancy agency, which resorted under the administrator of the national finance department. Later this task was delegated to an independent agency, the Landsaccountantsdienst (LAD), the national audit agency, which was formalized by parliamentary order on September 27th 1962. The LAD was entrusted with the internal auditing function of the national governing entities on the island territories of Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten.

In Curaçao the Accountantsbureau of the Island Territory of Curacao (EAB), the insular audit agency was established by insular government order issued on May 12th 1953 as the internal auditing agency of the insular government.

On October 3rd 1994 the national audit agency and the insular audit agency merged to become SOAB, the government’s auditor and advisory partner. After an extensive period of studies, consulting committees and an actual protest campaign, SOAB was established in 1994 by both the national and insular government of Curaçao. The founders became SOAB’s major clients.

The auditing agencies monitored the financial and material management of government institutions; audits resulting in statutory regulations, performing audits and making recommendations in the area of granting subsidies. The audits also focused on administrative organization and internal auditing.

In 1994 SOAB had one office in Curaçao, from where the other islands for which SOAB had been designated by law as internal auditor, were serviced. In 1995 a branch was opened in St. Maarten. Currently SOAB provides services in Curacao, Sint Maarten, the other BES islands of the Dutch Caribbean, including Bonaire and Suriname.